Principals of the Statue of Liberty Museum wanted to make an immediate impact on the 25,000 visitors a day with a large format short film. To do this, designers and installers had to overcome the challenges of deploying the correct projection blend onto a uniquely structured surface and creating a fully integrated technology system more than a mile away from the mainland on Ellis Island.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation worked with Diversified and Panasonic to develop and implement custom projection screens in a new immersive theater. To display the museum’s film, Liberty Enlightening the World, Panasonic deployed floor to ceiling projection onto three curved, asymmetric screens.
Previously, the Statue’s story was told in an exhibit housed within Lady Liberty’s pedestal. Enhanced life-safety upgrades limited the number of visitors; this limitation drove development of the new, standalone museum structure and the immersive theater. When walking into the space, there are three connected theaters, each with its own floor to ceiling curved screens, one measuring 17’ x 24’ and two measuring 12’ x 20’. These uniquely shaped screens display visuals powered by Panasonic PT-RQ32KU 3DLP 4K laser projectors. “When you’re standing in those rooms, and you’re looking at historic footage, or a drone shot of the statue at night, it’s really breathtaking,” says Diane Toland, project director for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
With floor to ceiling projection, and compelling video visuals, the theater borders on an IMAX experience. However, the curvature of the walls, which represent the folds in Lady Liberty’s robe, presented a challenge to deploy the correct projection blend.
“We needed to use Panasonic laser projectors, to get that particular curve,” said Carol Feely, Diversified’s project manager for the Statue of Liberty Museum project. “We certainly needed to deploy their projectors with edge blending technology.” The team installed eight PT-RQ32KU 3DLP 26,000 lumens 4K projectors and Panasonic’s edge-blending technology. “Dealing with the shape of the projected screen and then also the brightness are two really key pieces,” said Feely, “Panasonic laser projectors really can accommodate.”
